Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts
by AbsintheJade21
Summary: Following Roy and Co.'s transfer to Central, Sciezska and Havoc have teamed up and are trying to figure out who killed Hughes. SciezskaHavoc with spoilers up to recent manga chapters. Chapter fourteen: Havoc sees the light. Too bad he's also an idiot.
1. Cleanliness

As so many have said before me, there aren't nearly enough Sciezska stories around! So here's my take on the Sciezska/Havoc pairing. It's based on the manga and not on the TV series, so if you're wondering why the night of Hughes death is different, that's why. Elise Davies is what I named the receptionist at the phones. If someone knows her real name, I'd be happy to hear it!

Contains spoilers up to chapter 59 in the manga, so if you don't want to know what's happened up until then, don't read this story!

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa does along with a buttload of companies.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter One: Cleanliness

Through a sleep-induced haze, Sciezska heard the words 'Letoism,' and 'Lior.' Snorting a bit, she turned her head away from the mumbling. After all, if the speaker was going to mumble, what was the point of listening?

Her thoughts were quickly banished by a loud noise that sounded the like a thunderclap. More accurately, Sciezska thought groggily as she opened an eye, it sounded like someone slamming their fist onto a table.

Realizing that she had fallen asleep while writing documents for Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Sciezska quickly opened her eyes and pulled her face away from the book she had fallen asleep on. The pages stuck to her cheeks as she peeled them away and she rubbed them furiously to get rid of any ink residue, thanking her luck that she hadn't drooled.

Sending a curious, slightly sleepy glance in the Lieutenant Colonel's direction, she quickly realized that he had been responsible for the loud 'bang!' moments before. He was now standing up at his desk, staring, fascinated, at today's newspaper. Confused, she turned to look at the young man who always brought Hughes his coffee. The young man, who also looked a bit disoriented, shrugged back in her direction.

"Lieutenant Colonel, where are you going?" the young soldier called out to the officer's retreating back.

"I'm going to check up some old records in the archives for a little bit!" Hughes replied, a little too brightly in Sciezska's opinion.

She again shared a look with the other soldier and then shrugged. Who was she to question the comings and goings of a superior officer? Not only that, Sciezska continued to herself, but her direct superior officer, her boss. Sciezska shuddered and cowered a bit as she remembered that she had already been fired from the military once.

"All these books!" she cried out loud. "And I haven't even finished with the Lieutenant Colonel's manuscripts!" She brandished her pen in the air with a determined look on her face as she turned to nod at the male soldier. Unfortunately, he had already left the small library.

Sciezska heaved her shoulders and let out a large sigh. It always seemed that no one was really interested in what she had to say.

"Such a useless human being…" she said to herself.

Sighing heavily again, she forced herself to pay attention to what she had been writing. The small, muffled voice of a child drifted into her thoughts.

"You're not a useless human being. I think that trying your best to do something is by itself and incredible talent. You should be proud to have an incredible memory."

Smiling slightly to herself, Sciezska continued to write the document. Whenever she got down on herself, it seemed that those kind words from Alphonse Elric popped up in her thoughts, unbidden but not unwelcome. Alphonse was such a kind person, and much easier to get along with than his abrasive brother.

However, she continued to muse to herself as she blindly copied down what she remembered of the 57th Divison personnel list, it had actually been Edward who had paid her enough to get her mother the proper treatment she had needed. And both brothers had helped her get a good-paying job. Even if Lieutenant Colonel Hughes could be a bit overbearing and nosy.

Sciezska blushed slightly as she remembered the last time that the Lieutenant Colonel had invited her to dinner at his house in an attempt to see if she would get along with Colonel Mustang. Luckily, Gracia Hughes had expertly steered the conversation away from embarrassing topics and both she and Roy Mustang had made it through dinner without incident.

Giggling a bit, in a self-deprecating way, Sciezska gathered her assorted papers in no specific order. She had a photographic memory, but the amount of books, papers, and manuscripts she owned prevented her from finding anything quickly.

"As if the Colonel would want to date me," she said, shaking her head briskly and blushing. "I can't even keep a room clean."

Sciezska supposed that cleanliness, right up with cooking well and looking pretty, was one of the criterion Colonel Roy Mustang used to scrutinize which woman he would seduce next.

"The guy's practically a walking black book," Sciezska muttered, sticking out her tongue as she walked out of the library with a pile of books. "Why would I touch that?" As she shuddered, thinking of the many possible side effects of Roy Mustang's nightlife, her books began to slip. Sciezska tilted to one side to steady them, and then the other.

"Oof!" She heard a distinctly female grunt as she collided with another body. Sciezska screamed and fell to the floor along with hundreds of sheets of loose leaf paper.

"I'm so sorry!" the distraught soldier gasped.

"No, it was all my fault," Sciezska replied, somewhat dejectedly. As she began to gather her papers off of the floor, Sciezska looked up and recognized the short wavy hair of Corporal Elise Davies, the young secretary who manned the desk near the phone booths.

"Umm…do you need help or something?" she asked the corporal. Corporal Davies continued to look dazedly around the hallway. Sciezska furrowed her brow and inwardly began to panic. If she had hurt this young woman, there was a chance that she'd be fired. Again.

Sciezska managed to collect herself and quickly led the young woman back to her desk. "Are you sure that you're alright?" Sciezska asked, allowing a small note of panic to creep into her voice.

The young woman leaned forward, as if confiding to Sciezska a large secret. "It's Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!" Elise responded, obviously shaken. "He went in there," she continued, pointing to the door down the deserted hallway that led to the archives. Sciezska nodded.

"I thought I heard something, but I didn't see anyone else go in, so I figured, you know, maybe he tripped over something," Elise continued. Sciezska looked confused, but nodded again. She figured that, eventually, what the young girl was talking about would make sense.

"Then he came out to use the phone," Elise said, beginning to sound more self-assured. "I figured he was going to brag about his daughter again, or his wife." Sciezska groaned and nodded again. She opened her mouth to add her own complaints about the Lieutenant Colonel's bragging, but Elise quickly cut her off.

"He was bleeding Sciezska! But he just ran to the phones. So I got out the first aid kit from my desk and went to help him. But he just slammed the phone down, apologized for the interruption and ran off!"

At this point, Elise collected herself and was looking expectantly at Sciezska for answers.

"Well I don't know!" Sciezska burst out. "Although he was acting really weird today. In the office he slammed the paper down and ran off to the archives."

"I wonder what's going on?" Elise asked.

Sciezska shrugged. "Well it can't be too serious," she said out loud, more to reassure herself than calm Elise. "He probably just fell or something." Elise looked a bit incredulous and Sciezska swallowed her panic down before continuing. "The Lieutenant Colonel knows how to take care of himself, Elise, I'm sure. After all, he was in Ishbal for a bit."


	2. Unidentified Bodies

I still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, although it would be cool if I did. This story will involve switching between Havoc, Sciezska, and probably a few other characters POVs. This one's a Havoc chapter.

Please read, review, and enjoy!

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Two: Unidentified Bodies

Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc paused to slowly take a long drag from his cigarette. The nameless soldier at the scene looked at him with a mixture of expectancy and disgust. Jean wasn't sure if the latter came from identifying burnt corpses all day, or his chain smoking habit.

"Is this it?" the soldier prodded.

"That guy's all splattered," Jean crudely replied, more to get a rise out of the soldier than anything else. To Jean's delight, the soldier's face turned slightly green. "I dunno."

Jean sighed and then shrugged, sending a look of sympathy to the soldier.

"Look," Jean told him. "I've dealt with this shit all day. The truth is, how the hell do I know if that's Scar or not? It could be him, but the body's too charred and burnt to tell."

If anything, the soldier looked more pale and nervous than before. "So, uhhh…" the soldier began. "What am I supposed to do?"

Jean took a long deep drag and held the smoke in his mouth for a moment before exhaling deliberately. He paused another moment to look at every single one of the soldiers that had assembled at the scene.

"Well," Jean said, "Just take this one to the morgue. If we need him later, I'll holler."

With these parting words, Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc sauntered away from the crime scene. When he was far enough out of the soldiers' earshot, he ducked into a nearby alleyway and leaned against the brick wall, massaging his temples with his fingers.

"This Angel of Death gig has got to stop," Jean muttered to himself as he flicked his cigarette butt onto the street. He expertly ground it into the ground with a quick twist of his brightly polished military boot. Inhaling a clean breath of fresh air, Jean quickly collected himself and walked back out onto the main street.

The National Alchemist serial killer, known only as Scar, had scared most of the East City populace into their homes and off of the streets. In addition to Scar's unknown whereabouts, was the increasing rate of violence in the East, spreading outwards from Lior.

Jean looked around the deserted streets, half expecting to see a small bundle of dry grass blow across his path. Fumbling in his coat breast pocket, he pulled out another cigarette and paused to light it. As he breathed in, the lit tip burned, a bright spot on the dusky and deserted streets. Knowing that it would be dark soon, Jean thrust his hands in his coat pockets and walked briskly down the street.

"Second Lieutenant Havoc! Second Lieutenant Havoc!"

"Hunh?" Jean Havoc turned to see the youngest member of Colonel Mustang's staff, Sargent Kain Fuery, barreling toward him.

"Oh, it's just you Fuery," Jean said. "Haven't I told you to call me just Havoc? All that title bullshit gets kind of annoying after a while."

"Ummm…yeah," Fuery replied, eying the empty streets nervously. He shook his dark head and addressed Jean. "Anyway, boy am I glad I found you. It's dangerous to walk around alone at night."

Jean looked at the younger staff sergeant with what he hoped was a withering look before grabbing Fuery in a headlock and ruffling his hair. "Awwww…is little Kain afraid of the dark?"

"Cut it out!" Fuery thrashed around until Jean finally let him go. Jean looked at him and burst out laughing. Fuery's glasses were askew and his hair was standing on end. Fuery frowned and dusted off his glasses with a handkerchief from his coat pocket.

"It's not that funny," Fuery mumbled. Jean good-naturedly patted the sergeant on the back.

"C'mon, let's get you home," he said to Fuery. He pulled another cigarette out of his pocket, earning a glare and a groan from his comrade.

"That's disgusting," Fuery said. "Can you go without a cigarette for more than a minute?"

Jean paused long enough to blow smoke into Fuery's face, causing him to cough violently. "Nope," he said simply.

Fuery coughed and then sighed, holding his handkerchief over his nose. They walked a few more blocks without saying a word. The only sounds were the clipping of efficiently polished military boots, and the occasional weak cough from Fuery.

"So what'd I miss at the office today?" Jean finally asked.

Fuery perked up a bit. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes called to chew the Colonel out again."

Jean chuckled. "That son-of-a-bitch Hughes! I love that guy! What'd he have to say for himself?"

"Well…I think he bragged a lot about his family, like he usually does," Fuery said. Jean rolled his eyes. He knew how obsessed Hughes was with his daughter Elysia and his wife; however, he also knew that Hughes used the bragging about his family to cover up the little intelligence that he managed to supply Colonel Mustang.

Fuery then leaned in towards Hughes and lowered his voice. "It seems as if the Colonel may be leaving us for Central soon."

Jean stepped back and looked at Fuery incredulously before taking another short puff. He blew the smoke slowly out of his nostrils. "Really?"

"That's all you have to say?"

Jean shrugged. He already knew about the pending transfer rumors. The Colonel had hinted that he would need someone to keep in touch with Hughes, and the goings-on in Central outside of himself and Jean had volunteered. Unfortunately, although he personally trusted Fuery, he had promised the Colonel not to reveal anything that he might hear.

Inhaling cigarette smoke once more, Jean regarded Fuery, who was shifting from one foot to another nervously. Jean shrugged again.

"Whatever, if it happens, it happens." Fuery looked at him oddly and Jean quickly changed the subject. "What else did the Lieutenant Colonel have to say?"

"Something that upset the Colonel so much he slammed the phone down and yelled, 'Don't be ridiculous!' I don't really know what it was, but the first Lieutenant didn't seem too concerned. She just calmly told him to be quieter," Fuery said excitedly.

Jean burst out laughing. "It was probably to go get married," he said, stifling his laughter with a drag.

Fuery looked at him curiously. "Married?"

"Trust me," Hughes said as he put his arm on Fuery's shoulders. "It's one of Hughes's famous speeches."

"Well, uh, this is my street," Fuery said suddenly. "Ummm…thanks for walking with me."

"What, are we on a date or something?" Jean asked as he grabbed Fuery in another headlock and ruffled his hair again.

"C'mon!" Fuery all but shrieked. "I told you to knock it off with that stuff!"

"Don't worry, Fuery," Jean said, releasing the small staff sergeant. "I won't tell anyone that you're afraid of the dark." Fuery glared at his superior and turned to storm into his apartment.

"Besides," Jean continued, "I have a better date tonight than you."

"If you're referring to Ayame, I wouldn't count on that," the disgruntled Fuery responded. Jean looked at the young man in surprise. Fuery grinned with the perverse pleasure that comes with the perfect act of revenge.

"I mean, I think she's going on a date tonight, but with a certain Colonel." With this parting shot, Fuery grinned at Jean and walked into his apartment building, shutting the door firmly.

Jean stared at the peeling white paint on the small door for several minutes before neatly turning on his heel and walking briskly back to the Eastern Headquarters. With every step he took, his shoulders slumped further and his head lolled a bit more forward. It took him four cigarettes to get to the office, and one more before he ventured inside.

As he walked closer and closer to the Colonel's office, he grew more and more despondent. It wasn't the Colonel's fault, per se, that he attracted so many women. Colonel Roy Mustang was naturally charismatic, charming, and, Jean begrudgingly admitted to himself, very attractive. Jean slammed his fist into the door as he pushed it open.

"And I thought she was the one…" he mumbled as he walked into the office. Picking his head up, he looked around the deserted office.

"Shit…" he breathed out slowly as he sank, depressed, into the closest chair, which happened to be at First Lieutenant Hawkeye's desk. "The Colonel's probably out with her right now…" Jean slumped forward and pulled out another cigarette. As he expertly flicked his lighter, Jean paused, hearing a loud voice that sounded like the Colonel, echoing down the hallway.

Quickly snapping to his feet, Jean ran down the deserted corridor. As he rounded the corner he could hear Colonel Mustang's voice clearly from the first room on the right.

"Hughes! _Hughes!_"


	3. Paying Respects

Finally, I get to update this lovely story! Luckily for me, I'm writing slow enough that I may be able to find out from the manga what happens to Havoc, Sciezska, and Mustang and Co. before I have to start making something up. I like to at least have a framework to elaborate on.

If you catch any continuity discrepancies between my story and the manga please let me know so I can fix them. It's really important to me that I be as accurate as possible.

Once again, I still down own Fullmetal Alchemist. Bummer.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Three: Paying Respects

The hasty pitter-patter of women's heels echoed in the corridor outside, sounding nervous and harassed. By Jean Havoc's estimation, it was the seventh pair of heels that had walked by what would soon be Colonel Mustang's office at Central Headquarters.

Jean slowly rubbed his index finger across the scalloped edges of his scotch glass, or maybe it was a Collins glass. He couldn't remember which it was, and he supposed that it didn't matter either way, as the clear liquid currently inhabiting the glass was sake. With his left hand he slowly put out his cigarette in the ashtray on the table. As he roughly ground the cigarette into the metal, his right hand shook, splashing sake onto the satin black sash folded in his lap. Mesmerized, Jean watched as the tiny bead of liquid slowly edged its way down the gold piping and pooled at a small fold near his knee.

He chuckled hoarsely, throwing his head back and draining the rest of the sake, not even feeling it burn his throat as he picked up and dusted off the black sash. Swaying ever so slightly, Jean fumbled with the sash, pulling it on over his uniform.

A loud crash interrupted his thoughts and his right hand automatically reached for the gun that was stashed underneath his uniform. Luckily, before Jean could actually draw the weapon, his hand became entangled in the twisted sash causing him to loose his balance and trip forward onto the floor.

"Shit!" he heard a distinctly female voice whisper loudly. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Jean slowly opened one eye and saw a young woman, or the back half of a woman at least, attempting to retrieve what looked like hundreds of papers and books that had been somehow scattered on the ground. Smiling, he allowed himself to enjoy the view for a moment before picking himself up off of the floor.

"Those words aren't very ladylike," he said, making his voice as low and sexy as he bent down over her shoulder, handing her a messily compiled loose leaf notebook.

The young woman screamed shrilly and stumbled backwards causing Jean to drop the book and cover his ears in surprise.

"Sorry," the young woman said breathlessly. "I didn't even see you in here."

"It's uh, okay," Jean grimaced as he rubbed at his ears. Leaning down, he picked up the book and placed it in her hands.

"Thanks," she said, blushing slightly. "I've always been kind of a klutz but lately, things, well…" She paused and stared off into space.

Jean waited a few moments before waving his hand in front of her face to make sure that she was ok.

"Sorry!" she cried out, smiling almost too brightly. "I tend to space out sometimes."

Unable to come up with an appropriate reply that a woman wouldn't see as offensive, Jean choose to bend over and continue picking up the mass of papers.

"Thank you for your help," she said, straightening her glasses and smoothing her sash. Jean couldn't help but notice the way the sash flatteringly stretched across what looked like an ample chest.

"It's no problem," Jean said gallantly, settling back into his initial flirtation. "I'm always glad to help a damsel in distress."

"Oh," the woman said.

Jean frowned. "Oh?" he echoed.

The woman shifted uncomfortably, turning away from him, continuing to pick up papers as she spoke. "Well," she began. "The concept of a damsel in distress is rather demeaning towards women don't you think?"

"Uhhh…" Jean swallowed a hiccup. "No?"

"It implies that women can't do anything for themselves. Think on their own, open doors, carry things, hold jobs, basically do anything except cook and raise children. And even then, they constantly need to be aware of their fragile and frail sensibilities!" The woman had stood up as she cried out this declaration, brandishing her index finger in the air.

Jean stared at the girl, her eyes glazed over with passion, and her mouth set in determination. She was almost attractive, if not a total nutjob.

"But…you did drop the books," Jean unconsciously said aloud.

The woman turned to him and glared. "Not because I'm a woman! Because I am a complete and total klutz!"

Jean shrugged and shook his head in confusion, leaning down to pick up the last of the scattered papers. He opened his mouth to retaliate that being a klutz wasn't exactly something to sound so proud of when his eyes fell on the scattered names on the paper.

"The 57th division personnel list…" he murmured, shuffling through the papers. "Court transcripts, detectives notes, military tribunals, 5th laboratory research documents…" He began to feel more and more sober as he neatly organized the documents and held them out towards the woman. "Didn't this burn down in the first branch fire?" he questioned.

The woman frowned. "Well, they, uh… they did, but see…I remembered them, so I recopied them for Lieutenant Colonel…erm, that is, Brigadier General Hughes."

As she reached to grab the papers from his outstretched hand, Jean snatched them back for a moment, scanning the top document.

"And these are word for word?"

The woman sighed in exasperation. "Yes," she said, grasping the documents and hugging them closely to her chest.

"I know you!" Jean cried aloud. "You're that bookworm who worked for Hughes! Julie? No, Jessica!"

"It's Sciezska," she mumbled, gritting her teeth.

"So you're that girl…" he trailed off, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and placing it in his mouth. "That's quite a talent you have there."

"Not really," Sciezska said, shuffling her feet and coughing a bit from the smoke.

"Oh…uhhh…sorry," Jean said, shrugging. "I've never really been able to quit the habit."

"Maybe you never really tried," Sciezska whispered under her breath.

"What?"

"Oh…nothing." Sciezska blushed at her audacity. She began to neaten all of the papers into a tall stack on the table. As she leaned over and picked them up, the stack swayed threateningly and she stumbled to the side.

Sighing, Havoc put out his cigarette in the ashtray. "Here, let me help you with that. If you'll let me."

"No, I'm perfectly fine thanks." Jean heard her muffled voice from behind the books as he pulled away the top half of the stack.

"It's not because I think you can't do it."

Sciezska frowned at his unconvincing tone of voice, but accepted his help, and together, the two of them carried the remainder of the books into the separate room that would soon be Colonel Mustang's new office.

"Mustang wanted these books?"

"Yeah, I think he wants to discover who really killed Lieu…Brigadier General Hughes," Sciezska responded without thinking. "Oh! I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that. I don't even know who you are…"

As this thought dawned on Sciezska she warily eased away from him and towards the door.

Jean sighed. "Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc," he said, holding out his hand. "A close personal assistant to the Colonel."

"Oh, I've heard of you."

Raising one eyebrow, Jean paused to look at her. "Oh you have?"

"All good things, I promise," she responded brightly, blushing.

Jean shook his head good-naturedly. "How far did you get with translating the documents from the first branch?"

Sciezska frowned again. "Only about halfway," she muttered, hanging her head. "Now they're probably going to fire me. And my grandmother was getting so much better too! Oh, why do I have to be such a worthless person!"

"You won't be fired," Jean cried out, suddenly feeling exhausted. He ran his fingers through his blond hair and sighed.

"Look, I'll let you keep your job. There's a real nice guy who works around here, Sergeant Foker. Do you know him?"

Sciezska looked dazed. Jean walked into the larger room and poured himself another drink before continuing.

"He's a good guy. And he just happens to be in charge of the document storage rooms here in central."

"Oh! I think I already work for him."

Jean nodded and held the glass out to her. "Would'ya like a drink?"

"Uh….no thanks," Sciezska said, startled. "I have to go to the funeral soon." She self-consciously smoothed her black sash down and ran her fingers through her hair before crying out loudly.

"Are you…okay?" Jean asked, although he had already formed the opinion that Sciezska, despite her talents being lauded by Hughes was decidedly not okay.

"My hat! I can't find it!"

Jean spotted the blue cap with a short black visor near the doorway where she had initially fell.

"Ta-da!" he said, brandishing the cap with a flourish in a last-ditch flirtation effort.

"Thank you," Sciezska said, blushing again as she adjusted the cap onto her frizzy hair. "I'm sorry I seem such a mess. I'm not usually this annoying."

Jean simply cocked his head to the side and studied her as he poured another glass of sake. It was the last glass of the bottle. The cap almost tamed her wild brown hair, making her look presentable.

"It's okay," he finally said. "I guess we're all a little out of it these days." Jean drained the sake glass quickly as Sciezska winced at the sight.

"Disgusting," she whispered.

"You mean impressive," Jean said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Erm…yeah…well, uh, thanks for the help!" she shouted as she bowed to him deeply before running out the door.

Jean complimented himself on his good behavior as he lit another cigarette.


	4. Promotion

Huzzah! An update!! I guess this is a slightly shorter one than I usually write, but I want the next chapter to be another one from Sciezska's point of view.

Quick question, are all military titles capitalized? Even lower ones like Corporal?

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Four: Promotion

His cigarette was beginning to get soggy. Jean couldn't stand soggy smokes. Grunting, he heaved another large piece of rubble. The landscape of the city seemingly loomed closer and closer every day, as if it was slowly crawling towards the ruined sector to swallow it whole.

Jean shifted his boots and kicked over another piece of concrete revealing the dried out corpse of another dead rat.

"Found another one!"

"That's the fourth one today," his assistant crew-chief Anthony responded.

With a five year-old's curiosity for dead things, Havoc picked up the flattened corpse by the tail, holding it gingerly in front of his face.

"Never knew there were so many of these things in the city."

Anthony shrugged. "They're everywhere I suppose."

Jean blanched, making a disgusted face before spitting out of the side of his mouth. His smoke was getting soggier by the minute. It was almost enough to make him gag. He quickly flung the rat into a neat pile of garbage that had been slowly growing since he'd arrived at the site nearly six hours ago.

The sun was scorching above him. Jean took off his uniform jacket and threw it on the ground, somewhere in the vicinity of the garbage pile. He spat his cigarette towards the garbage as well and reached into his pocket to grab a fresh one. The cigarette landed on his coat. Jean gagged. Spit had always disgusted him.

Shuddering, he turned, fresh smoke in hand, and hefted a ruined piece of concrete over his shoulder.

"There," he said, to no one in particular, already chomping at the end of his new cigarette. "Scar's corpse hasn't been found yet."

"Nope," Anthony responded as he hefted a two-by-four over his shoulder. He paused, turning towards the dirty officer.

"Second Lieutenant Havoc," the workman said. "Please, leave the rest to us and take a break."

"Yeah, you're working more than us enlisted," another crew member piped up. Snickers echoed through the rubble, led by Jean as he threw the piece of rubble into a separate pile behind him.

"Really?" he grinned. "I feel bad. Then I'll take a rest…"

Anthony slapped him on the back as Jean sat down on a nearby concrete slab and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. Jean grinned again and promptly got up to rifle through the pockets of his jacket. He gagged again as his fingers came in contact with the damp cigarette butt and he quickly rose, shaking off his jacket.

"That's what happens when you throw it in the garbage pile…sir," one of the crewman said cheekily.

"Yeah, yeah."

Jean pulled a slightly warm sandwich out of his jacket pocket and unwrapped it. The lettuce was wilted from the heat and the cheese had melted. He poked it.

"Second Lieutenant, Sir!" The phone operator called out from the makeshift operations tent. He looked miserable in the heat, still in full uniform, his hair was matted down and stuck to his scalp from the sweat. "It's the colonel."

"Crap. What does he want now?"

Jean frowned, he was still slightly upset at the Colonel for stealing away yet another one of his girlfriends. Although, now that he was dating Rika his love life seemed somewhat improved. Jean grinned. Rika had the softest smile, and the softest…

"Sir! He says it's urgent sir," the Corporal running the phones said, somewhat peevishly as he wiped his face off with a handkerchief. He had no time for dealing with spaced-out officers.

Saluting, he handed the phone to Jean, snapping the officer from his daydream. Jean hastily saluted back and the Corporal ran back to the shade and shelter of the tent.

"Second Lieutenant?" Roy Mustang's voice was brisk and official.

"Yes sir."

"You are to report to my office right away. It's happening."

"Yes sir." The Colonel had already hung up before Jean's affirmative reply.

Jean turned around slowly, trying to keep the grin from his face. He was sure that he was the only member of the team that knew about the promotion, with the exception of Hawkeye. Jean shrugged. How that woman managed to know everything and control the Colonel was beyond him.


	5. Cavein

And so it continues! The (probably not) long-awaited chapter five! I really need to stop working on so many stories and focusing on finishing the awesome ideas I have for this one.

If I told you I owned Fullmetal Alchemist, would you believe me? Really?

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Five: Cave-in

Sciezska surveyed her surroundings proudly from atop her stepstool, brandishing her final and unassuming book in hand. It had taken her nearly two weeks, countless paper cuts, bruises, and possibly a concussion; however she had managed to catalog all of the personnel files that had previously been lost to the fire. The manuscripts and notebooks had taken over her entire house, covering the floor in what appeared to be disarray. Piles of her own personal library had been brushed aside in her fervor, and now teetered in uneven stacks, giving her living room the look of a cave.

Taking a deep breath, Sciezska stood on her tiptoes and placed the last book in place. The heap of files loomed precariously over her head, threatening to crash over her like a wave. She held her breath, feeling that the slightest move might trigger the papers, and took a sip of her cold and stale coffee. It had been much easier when she had worked directly under Brigadier General Hughes, as she had been given her own little study, small though it may have been, to work on her many projects. Now that Hughes was gone, things had begun to change in the research department, beginning with the fact that her small office had been taken away from her and given to an incoming officer, one of Colonel Mustang's men.

Sciezska groaned aloud as she remembered her own, supremely awkward dinner experience with Roy Mustang. She took another sip of her coffee and grimaced. In the past two weeks, she had poured everything into preparing documents for the new leadership. Slowly, the glow and satisfaction that comes when a job has just been finished was quickly overshadowed by her uncertain future.

She took another deep breath to steady her nerves. Sergeant Foker hadn't said anything about losing her job, and she had been allowed to undertake this last project at home, a circumstance that she was sure many had viewed as a luxury.

"Well, there's no use in worrying about it now," she told herself in an overly bright voice. Sciezska drained the last of her coffee and began to look for a clear path towards her kitchen.

"Okay, now I can't get down."

Slowly inching her way down the little step-ladder, she began to formulate a pathway that would be the least likely to upset any of her hard work.

"Sciezska!?" A muffled voice called from beyond the cluttered living room.

"Gracia? Is that you?" Sciezska replied, frantically searching for a clean spot on the floor. She had managed to slowly wriggle her way down the ladder, and was now perched precariously on one foot in an attempt to avoid a yellowed stack of papers to her left. Her right hand clutched her empty coffee mug while her left was lifted above her head to protect it in the highly likely event of a paper avalanche. Upon seeing her, Gracia burst into laughter.

"Sciezska what are you doing?" She asked, peering her head in from the kitchen.

"I'm trying to get out of here!" Sciezska replied. From her vantage point, Sciezska couldn't see Gracia, so she began to move in the general direction of her voice. Gracia giggled as she watched her friend slowly maneuver through the piles of paperwork. Realizing that it might take a minute, Gracia wandered back into the kitchen and began to unpack a few containers of food that she had brought from her house.

Unlike most of Scieszka's house, the kitchen was pristine with the exception of a thick layer of dust that coated every surface. Gracia shook her head and sighed as she heard Sciezska stumble in behind her.

"Phew! That was close!" Sciezska exclaimed as she began to brush bits of scrap paper and dust off of her favorite black sweater. Gracia opted not to chide her friend for her organizational skills, or lack thereof.

"I take it you finished your research," she said simply. Sciezska nodded in reply and collapsed into a nearby chair. She blew her breath out slowly causing her frizzy bangs to flutter and brush against her cheeks.

"Maes would be very proud of you."

Sciezska looked up into her friend's eyes. For a minute they gazed at each other sadly before Sciezska sat up abruptly, ran over to Gracia and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you," Sciezska sniffed. Gracia smiled sadly, quickly turning away to tend to the food and hide the tears that threatened to spill from the corners of her eyes. Sciezska shook her head lightly and took off her glasses, rubbing them on the hem of her sweater. The dirt and grime from both her glasses and her sweater mixed together in a greasy mess and Sciezska squinted at them disapprovingly, before shrugging and plopping them back on her face.

"How's my favorite little princess?" Sciezska asked, trying to lighten the mood. Gracia's eyes lit up as she began to talk about her daughter.

"She discovered the art of mud-pie making the other day," Gracia said wryly. "Remember that cute little dress that Riza gave her?"

"Oh no," Sciezska chuckled softly.

"Covered," Gracia said. "Completely soaked through with mud. I don't think I'll ever be able to get it out." Sciezska laughed and shook her head.

"I never did that kind of stuff as a kid," she said wistfully. "I was always lost in a world of books." She looked back into her disaster of a living room.

"You still are," Gracia teased. "I'm surprised you could make your way out of that mess."

"Mess!?" Sciezska exclaimed, a bit hurt. "I just spent two weeks cataloging that stuff for Colonel Mustang!"

Gracia laughed. "Listen to you becoming so defensive. Two weeks ago you would have fretting about being useless or some other nonsense."

"Maybe it's your amazing influence," Sciezska said sarcastically.

"Seriously," Gracia said. "You've become a lot more confident these past few weeks." She reached across the table and covered Sciezska's hand with hers. "I know Maes would be very proud of you. He already thought you were an amazingly talented person."

"Really?" Sciezska said quietly.

Gracia nodded and began to cry softly. Sciezska quickly enveloped her friend in another hug.

"I miss him so much," Gracia said. Sciezska nodded in reply.

"I know."

A/N: Alright, I'm going to admit that the idea of Gracia and Sciezska becoming good friends actually comes from havocmangawip and 'Jean Havoc: A Work in Progress.' Which is a must read for any Havoc/Sciezska fan, or really any Fullmetal manga fan in general.

The 'Okay, now I can't get down" line, as any loyal browncoat may recognize, is my little homage to the character Kaylee from 'Firefly.'


	6. Waking

Wow! I can't believe I've actually updated two chapters within such a short timespan. The more I write this story, the more I fall in love with it.

And I still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but it's okay because Arakawa-san seems nice. This chapter does contain a few lines taken directly from the translated manga. No copyright infringement was intended.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Six: Waking

"So, why have you chosen to pursue a career in the military?"

"I'm from the eastern countryside, near where the civil war was fought. I wanted to do something to help, so I joined the academy. I ain't the brightest, but I get by."

Jean Havoc grimaced as they words came out of his mouth. Admitting that he wouldn't be the brightest addition to Major Mustang's team would almost certainly prevent him from getting the position.

"You get by?" The dark-haired officer raised an eyebrow. "Then you have no ambitions?"

"None at the moment, sir." Jean resisted the urge to slap his forehead as the short and carefree phrase punctuated the air. He could never seem to stop himself from blurting out the truth in all of the wrong situations. The Major was stunned, and Jean wasn't surprised. The officer had probably never experienced someone so completely unqualified admit that he was amazingly unqualified.

To Jean's surprise, Major Mustang grinned broadly. Jean sat nervously back in his chair. The Major's smile was wide and scarily genuine.

"Good," he said simply. "I have many lofty ambitions myself, and I need someone content to stay in the background. They also must be willing to protect my interests."

Jean nodded in response. He wasn't sure if he should be thrilled that he still had a chance at the job, or terrified that the Major had laid his goals out so bluntly. Fighting the urge to grab a cigarette from his breast pocket, Jean began to sweat.

"Do you think you could be that person for me?" The Major was waiting for an answer.

"Yessir," Jean responded.

"Good!" Major Mustang's voice softened a bit and he offered his hand to Jean. "I handpick only the best, Second Lieutenant. Believe me when I say that you already had the job before you walked in this room today."

Bewildered, Jean looked up at the major and stared. He knew that a blank stare was the worst way to respond; however, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"You may go smoke that cigarette now, Second Lieutenant," the major said, almost teasingly.

"How did you, I mean, thank you sir!"

..::xx::xx::xx::..

Jean woke to a sharp knock on his door.

"Jus' amin," he mumbled sleepily. He slowly peeled his face from the cardboard box that had served as his pillow for the night. Rubbing his eyes, Jean took a quick look around his new apartment in Central. It was small, and the walls, trim, and ceiling were all painted a blank eggshell white.

"The finest the military can buy," he mumbled sarcastically to himself. This statement was punctuated by another loud series of knocks.

"I said just a minute!"

Jean shook his head wildly and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Was I expecting anyone this morning?" His words echoed in the unfurnished room. Quickly he ran to the door and pulled it open to find a frazzled-looking brunette standing in his doorway next to a pile of books that was almost as tall as she was.

"Can I, uh, help you?"

"Um…Second Lieutenant Havoc? I'm sorry to, uh, I mean you were obviously sleeping," the woman replied, blushing and staring down at her feet. Jean blinked and stared at the woman.

"Um…your shirt," the brunette said awkwardly. Jean looked down to see his pale chest staring back up at him. He blushed, futilely crossing his arms.

"Hang on a minute, will ya?" By the time the woman nodded in reply, Jean had already dashed back into the apartment to grab a shirt.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," he muttered under his breath as he tossed an ashtray off of the nearest box, tore it open, and began to ransack his packed clothing. Jean was embarrassed to be caught in such a state of disarray. The woman at his door looked very familiar to him. Her frizzy hair and glasses weren't really his style, but he was willing to bet that she had a nice body underneath that military uniform. Tugging a plain black t-shirt over his head, he ran back to the doorway.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly. "I had a rough sleep last night." Jean tried to appear casual as he said this, leaning against the door and smiling.

"It's okay," she said politely, still blushing a bit. Jean smiled inwardly. The woman was kind of cute when she smiled. She bowed and handed a stack of paperwork to him. "Here are the documents you wanted, sir."

Jean shook his head and pushed the papers back towards her. "I'm sorry, I didn't order these at all."

"But I was told to give them to you," she said, wringing her hands nervously. "I went to take them to Colonel Mustang, but he told me to bring them to you instead. I promise. Please take them. I worked so hard on them and you promised me that I would be allowed to keep my job despite the death of Brigadier General Hughes."

Jean blinked again and stared. She had mumbled the words out so fast he had only caught on to the last part of what she had said.

"Wait, I told you?"

"At Brigadier General Hughes's funeral." She suddenly paled. "Please tell me you weren't joking." Her voice trembled with an angry edge. "I've spent so much time recreating those documents."

"Jessica!"

"Sciezska," she corrected, visibly grinding her teeth.

"Sciezska," he repeated. "Your Maes's bookworm prodigy." She smiled softly at these words and shook her head.

"It's just something that I can do."

"Really? Something you just do? I couldn't do that ever," Jean said incredulously. "Well, come on in." Sciezska blushed again and bent down to pick up the books. Jean quickly stepped in front of her and scooped them up himself.

"Holy crap! How much do these weigh? You carried these here by yourself?" Jean whistled appreciatively as he shifted his legs and regained his balance.

"I can carry them perfectly fine by myself," she bristled. Memories of their first conversation flooded into his mind.

"That's right, you're a feminist," Jean muttered underneath his breath.

"What?"

"Uhh…nothing. It's fine. Please, after you." Jean motioned his head towards the door. Sciezska hesitated.

"Are you sure that you wouldn't like some help?"

"I'm fine. Let's just go inside and we can talk about what's in these documents, okay?"

Sciezska nodded slowly and walked into his apartment. Jean breathed an audible sigh of relief. The stack of books was a lot harder to carry than he wanted to let on. His eyes lingered on her backside for a moment as he followed her in through the doorway, and he fought the urge to whistle.

"Damn bad habits," he mumbled.

A/N: Thanks to all my loyal readers out there and a very special thanks to every one of them who has reviewed it!! Huzzah!!

About Sciezska's, "Um…" I was trying to find the English equivalent to the Japanese "Ano…" a typical way to start a sentence if you are nervous or unsure about something.

A word on military rankings: Second Lieutenant is the lowest commissioned rank in the army, with the General of the Army being the highest rank (this would be the equivalent of the Fuhrer King Bradley). I wanted to start Jean out at a lower rank along with Colonel (then Major) Roy Mustang, placing the timeline right after the Ishbalan Conflict, however there are no lower commissioned officers.

Also, I want to add this story to my own Sciezska C2, but I HATE when people create communities just to promote their own story. Would it be terrible if I added it anyway?


	7. Sempai

A very shiny new chapter just for YOU! In the time it's taken for me to write up to this chapter, I still haven't acquired the rights to FMA. Such is life.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Seven: Sempai

Secretly, Sciezska couldn't help being impressed as she watched the young man heft the pile of paperwork and hold it while he waited for her to enter his apartment. She knew how heavy the stacks of accumulated research had been. It had taken her three long trips from Central Headquarters, sprinting back and forth, and hiding the manuscripts underneath the steps to Lieutenant Havoc's building. Sciezska cursed Colonel Mustang throughout the entire ordeal for his laziness in dumping the paperwork onto his unsuspecting underling. Looking down at her feet, she congratulated herself on remembering to wear comfortable flats instead of the regulation uniform heels. In her opinion, the expectation of all women in the army to wear two to three inch heels every day was absurd.

Sciezska shook her head as she walked into the apartment, lost in thoughts of how exactly she would kill the man who came up with the brilliant idea of the female military uniform.

"I'm sorry. I…erm…I just moved in to this apartment," Lieutenant Havoc said as he set the bundle of papers on the nearest cardboard surface. The books made a very satisfying plop that echoed in the unfurnished apartment as he dropped them.

"Hmmmm?" Sciezska turned to see the lieutenant wearing a very apologetic expression on his face.

"The mess," he stated simply. She looked at him and blinked twice before furrowing her brow in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't really paying attention," she said sheepishly, scratching nervously behind her neck. "What did you say?"

"The apartment," he said in a staccato, almost irritated voice. "I'm sorry it's so messy."

"Oh." Sciezska turned away from him to take it all in. "Messy? Didn't you just move in?"

Lieutenant Havoc closed his eyes, momentarily exasperated without knowing why. He certainly shouldn't be annoyed that she didn't flip out like any other girl would.

"Well, Sorry anyways. I wasn't expecting anyone."

Sciezska shrugged. "It's your life." Sciezska resisted the urge to clamp her hand down over her mouth. Usually she would never be so flip with anyone, especially a superior officer. Looking up at him out of the corner of her eye, she shrunk back a bit. He was still her senior and she felt somewhat indebted to him, and Colonel Mustang, that she still had a job. Sciezska bit her lip, inwardly cursing herself for acting so stupid, knowing full well how lucky she was to have a job doing something she was remotely talented at. Lowering her head in contrition, she began dragging the two nearest boxes towards Lieutenant Havoc.

"What are you doing!?" His voice sounded somewhat panicked.

"They're to sit on. I figured you would want me to debrief you." She pushed one of the boxes, ignoring his confused look. "You know, when Colonel Mustang asks you about these documents later, especially regarding Brigadier General Hughes." The Lieutenant nodded and stiffened at the mention of Hughes, momentarily put in his place that he was the superior officer.

"Did you know him well?" Sciezska asked, noting his odd facial expression.

"Not really. I mean, we talked a lot, mostly about stuff he couldn't tell Roy. You know, stuff that would have gotten him in trouble."

"So you're the one he would always call!"

"Yeah, probably," he nodded sheepishly, running his fingers through his hair. "How about you?"

"He was…," Sciezska trailed off wistfully. She began to giggle, and smiled at the Lieutenant.

"His inspiration tactics were legendary," she finally said. He began to laugh along with her.

"Did he show you pictures of little Elysia?"

"Constantly! He was always so proud of her every accomplishment. I suppose it didn't help that I babysat her once and a while."

"Don't worry, it wasn't just you. He raved about her with all of us. Roy probably got it the most. About Elysia and getting married."

"Getting married?" Sciezska laughed.

"Yeah, he would always badger Roy, saying he should settle down and find someone just like Gracia," he said, grinning.

Sciezska burst out laughing at the idea of the Flame Alchemist, subdued and domesticated. The Lieutenant began to laugh along with her. She smiled broadly at her superior officer.

"It wasn't really that hard to put up with," she said. "Well, that and I guess I owe my job to him. Him, Alphonse and Edward of course." Lieutenant Havoc smiled.

"Yeah, Fullmetal can't help being a do-gooder, I guess. Apparently he's a legend in Lior."

"Yeah, Hughes would always joke around about him. He kept a decent file on both of them actually," Sciezska said, pointing to the stack of paperwork behind him.

"Really?" the Lieutenant sat down on the nearby box, and reached behind him to pull out a thick red envelope.

"Yeah, it starts here," Sciezska said, following his lead to sit. She reached over Lieutenant Havoc's shoulder and pulled out a copy of Edward's military title letter, given to him when he was licensed as a state alchemist and given the title 'Fullmetal.' Noticing that her skirt had briefly ridden up when she had sat down, she wriggled a bit, vainly smoothing it down, closer to her knees.

"Um…sir? Your nose…" Sciezska raised her other hand and brushed underneath her own nose.

"Hunh?" The Lieutenant looked at her quizzically.

"Your nose is bleeding."

Lieutenant Havoc quickly set the file down on the makeshift table and covered his nose with his hand.

"I'll be right back," he said.

A/N: Nosebleeds come up commonly in Japanese anime and manga, usually referring to when one character is turned on by another one. Yes, I'm aware that I'm making Jean a bit pervy. I think it plays into who he is as a character, and it will become especially interesting when Lust shows up. (For those who have been waiting for her to pop up, you'll see her soon!)

A note on the chapter title: 'sempai' is a word that denotes a superior or a senior in a job or school. Technically Roy would not only be Ed's superior officer, but also his sempai, having been a state alchemist for much longer than Ed. Of course, Ed would rather die than refer to Roy as his superior.


	8. His Own Good

It's really too bad that I don't own the manga, because there would be a lot more of Havoc and Sciezska if I did. (Not in a relationship necessarily, just more of each of them. They're such great characters!) On the other hand, it's much more well-written and drawn in Arakawa's capable hands.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Eight: His own good.

Jean peered around into a deceptively empty hallway. He knew he was being paranoid, but he couldn't help sneaking suspicious glances in every direction before turning the corner. Trying to walk softly, so his boots didn't make noise against the polished tile, he snuck around and began to tiptoe towards the archives. He had attempted to visit the archives at least once day after his meeting with Sciezska, whether it was to engage her in a seemingly meaningless conversation, or to pull some military records to compliment her research.

"There you are, Lieutenant Havoc!"

He jumped at the loud voice and turned around to see Fuery looking at him quizzically.

"Fuery? Don't scare me like that!" Jean practically growled as he tore himself away from the direction of the archives and strode towards Fuery.

"What are you doing sneaking around here?" Fuery asked.

Jean hesitated. He had never had much talent, or willingness for that matter, to lie. He wanted to tell Fuery about his work in the archives. Hell, he was sure Roy would certain appreciate to hear some of the information he had recently uncovered. However, he didn't want to place either of them, especially the Colonel, into any unnecessary danger. He found himself remembering a conversation with Hughes.

"But, sir, if you don't mind me saying so, that's just the problem. You never tell the Colonel anything he wants to hear. Every conversation I've heard the two of you have involves mundane social stuff."

"Mundane! Elysia is anything but mundane! Why yesterday-"

"Exactly my point, sir." Jean felt a little guilty at interrupting him. He hoped that he was close enough to Hughes that he wouldn't mind an obvious breach of acceptable military conversation.

Hughes simply laughed in his mild-mannered but infectious way, and Jean found himself laughing along with him.

"Social stuff and Roy getting married sometime soon," Hughes added for an extra laugh. Although Jean couldn't see him over the phone, he felt Hughes collecting himself before he continued to speak.

"This is why you can only tell him the most mundane of things, as well, Jean. I know he sent you on a mission to find out what I've actually uncovered in my research."

Jean paused, torn between his loyalty to the Colonel and the consequences of lying to a superior officer.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, for not lying to me," Hughes said, mirroring Jean's thoughts.

"I'm sorry, sir," Jean finally said with a sigh.

"Don't be. Roy has every right to be curious. He also has every right to know what's going on underneath him, but…," Hughes trailed off for a minute. Jean imagined him gazing at photographs in his office wistfully.

"You know Roy's ambitions, correct?"

"Yes, sir." They had been made very clear to Jean from the moment he was chosen to join Colonel Mustang's outfit.

"Then you should also be able to recognize how knowing the complete truth could be potentially devastating for someone with such lofty career goals."

Jean sat back in his chair, tapping the top of his desk with his fingertips. He had never given it much thought, but what Hughes said made a lot of sense.

"I'll tell you what," the Lieutenant Colonel said. "You can continue to be a sort of liason between the Roy and myself. I'll give you a lot more information than I will ever give to Roy."

"But…," Jean interjected.

"There is no 'but'"

"So you're going to tell me everything?"

"Pretty much, Second Lieutenant."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand, sir." Jean stopped tapping his hand absentmindedly on his desktop and sat up straight. "You're going to tell me everything the Colonel wants to know?"

"Isn't that what you want?"

"Yes, but it's obviously not what you want, sir. Didn't you just say he needed protection?"

"I'm going to leave that in your very capable hands, Lieutenant Havoc."

"Are you sure, sir? Aren't you worried I'm going to just tell him everything?"

"Roy felt he could trust you gathering this information," Hughes said simply. "I feel as if I can trust you to know what's necessary for him to know."

"I'm not really the smartest guy in the outfit, though. Maybe you should tell someone else. Someone like Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Yes, well the Lieutenant has her own 'special' relationship with Roy," Hughes said vaguely. "Don't worry. If it means anything, I think you're up for the challenge. Just find something else to talk about. Create a fixation of some sort to distract him."

"A fixation?"

"You know, an interesting hobby? What do you and Roy have in common that he'd be interested in?"

Jean's answer was so soft and mumbled that the Lieutenant Colonel had to ask him to repeat it twice before he could understand it.

"Lately your girlfriends, hunh? Yeah that sounds like Roy alright." Hughes fought back the urge to chuckle at poor Havoc's terrible luck.

"So use that to your advantage! Talk about your unlucky adventures in love and embellish on them! It will definitely take his mind off of the fact that he's not receiving all of the information from me that he wants," Hughes said.

Jean shook his head and cleared the daydream from his mind. Fuery was continuing to look at him curiously.

"Oh, I'm just wandering around a bit," Jean said lowly, fishing a cigarette out of his pocket and trying to look depressed.

"Ah! I get it! You're avoiding the Colonel because he stole another one of your girlfriends!" Fuery laughed and adjusted his glasses as Jean glared at him.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, four eyes," Jean growled. Sometimes it irked him how quickly his co-workers were willing to believe his inept dating skills.

"Aww, you know I didn't mean anything by it," Fuery said. "What happened to Rika anyway?"

Jean shrugged, acting casual as he took another drag. "We split up."

"Well, I bet you miss at least one thing about her," Fuery said with a gleam in his eye.

Nearly spitting his lit cigarette onto the floor, Jean looked at Fuery with newfound interest, before pausing a moment to remember certain larger, squishy parts of his ex-girlfriend.

"Awww…is wittle Fuery growing up and beginning to notice girls?" Jean reached over and playful tousled the Sergeant's hair.

"Cut it out! You know I hate being treated like a kid!" Fuery glowered at Jean as his adjusted his glasses again and matted his hair down into a somewhat neat style.

"Anyway, the Colonel was looking for you. That's why I came to find you."

With a brief, longing glance at the archives, Jean put out his cigarette and threw it into a nearby trashcan.

"Let's go then," he said, gesturing for Fuery to follow.

"You're going to set one of those things on fire someday," the Sergeant replied.

A/N: Some of you may be wondering at the lack of strict formality between Hughes and Havoc. The way I see it, both of them are friendly people who don't really flaunt their authority, or care about being addressed in the 'proper' way. In addition to this, Hughes is not technically Havoc's boss and they are a bit closer in rank than Havoc and other superior officers.

Thanks to havocmangawip for continuing to be one of my best reviewers!


	9. Empathy

And now for something completely different…another new chapter! I still don't own Sciezska, Jean, Roy, or the gang, but as I've said before, they're much better off belonging to Arakawa.

Thanks to Soul Raider 166, and havocmangawip who have both followed this story since the beginning! Your reviews always make me so happy!

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Nine: Empathy

Sciezska sighed as she heard the voices of Second Lieutenant Havoc and Sergeant Fuery fade down the hallway following their heavy footsteps, and the faint, acrid smell of cigarette smoke.

"I guess that means no new assignments for today." Sciezska poked at her stale cup of coffee halfheartedly before taking a slow sip. She cringed at the cold, metallic taste.

"Had the person who made this even tasted coffee before?"

"Hmmm? Did you say something Sciezska?" Elise looked up from her paperwork inquisitively.

"Uhhh…no," Sciezska blushed and stuttered. "No I'm fine."

It had only occurred to Sciezska after she had agreed to help the Second Lieutenant out that there would be one glaringly obvious hitch in their somewhat perfect plan. Sciezska was a terrible liar.

"Okay." Elise seemed not to notice her discomfort and turned away to gather the files she had come for.

Sciezska breathed another sigh, one of relief instead of disappointment, and buried her head in what appeared to be a gossip magazine. Hidden behind the cover was a series of recent transcripts that the Second Lieutenant had given her to read last week.

It was now obvious to Sciezska that a large higher-up was pulling the strings behind the most recent series of events leading up to, and following, Hughes's death. Not only had Hughes's murder gone nearly uninvestigated, but the Fifth Research Institute had been mentioned again as a test site for the philosopher's stone using human subjects.

Sciezska grimaced and turned a few pages ahead to the end of the transcript, searching for the source.

"Barry the Chopper!?" She shrieked and fell backwards out of her desk chair.

"Sciezska! Are you okay?" Elise rushed over to her in a flurry of scattered papers.

"No, I'm fine! I'm fine, I promise!"

Sciezska grasped at the fallen transcript pages wildly, trying to keep Elise from seeing what she had hidden under the magazine cover.

"Here let me help." Elise bent over to pick up a few of the pages that had drifted farther away from Sciezska's desk.

"No!"

Sciezska quickly grabbed the pages from Elise's hand frantically, wrestling them from her fingers and almost ripping them in the process.

"Ok…," Elise trailed off, sounding hurt. "I was only trying to help."

"No, I'm sorry, Elise. I didn't mean, I mean thanks for your help. I'm really sorry, it's just that I've been under a lot of pressure lately…"

Sciezska trailed off with a lack of anything else to say. At least the statement wasn't a complete lie. Luckily Elise looked at her with sympathy before suddenly hugging Sciezska.

"Oh! I, um, thanks, Elise." Her hands hung awkwardly at her sides as the younger girl hugged her tight.

"I completely understand," Elise said in a rush as she pulled away, placing the last of the scattered papers onto Sciezska's desk.

"After the whole thing with Lieutenant Colonel, oh, I mean Brigadier General Hughes. He was bleeding, Sciezska! Bleeding! And he was such a nice man! He obviously cared so much about his family, and I completely understand how you feel. We all miss our Lieutenant Colonel."

Sciezska watched as tears began to leak out of Elise's eyes, and stood awkwardly for a moment before giving the young corporal a quick hug. She had always gone to Gracia when she had felt upset or sad about Hughes, and had avoided talking about it with the rest of her coworkers. It hadn't occurred to Sciezska that Elise would have felt equally as upset, if not worse than herself.

"I'm so sorry, Elise," she said to the young girl. "I didn't realize, although I should have realized how upset you were. The Brigadier General was an amazing person and you worked with him even longer than I did."

Elise nodded and sniffled in reply.

"I'll tell you what. The Brigadier General's wife, Gracia, have you met her?"

"No," Elise shook her head, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"Well, she's another amazing person, but sometimes, like you and me, she gets upset too, and there's little Elysia to look after."

Elise grinned at the mention of the late Brigadier General's daughter.

"So sometimes we have tea, or coffee. Well, really, Gracia just makes sure I don't forget to feed myself," Sciezska said wryly.

"That sounds like fun. Thanks, Sciezska."

"It's no problem, I'll give you a call the next time we get together." Sciezska paused before continuing, "And I am sorry for getting mad at you."

Elise shook her head and gathered up the files she had originally come to the archives to look up.

"Don't worry about it. I definitely understand the stress thing." She looked down at the magazine Sciezska had supposedly been reading.

"Did you say something about Barry the Chopper?"

Sciezska blanched. She had been hoping that Elise hadn't noticed her scream as she had fallen out of her chair.

"I…uh…yeah! He's back, maybe. In one of the columns. Someone said that they saw him…um…somewhere, in Central!"

As her face turned bright red from lying, Sciezska looked up at Elise out of the corner of her eye, willing her to buy in to the terrible story.

"No wonder you seemed so scared!" Elise nodded and then clapped one hand over her mouth in horror.

"You don't think it was him that killed the Brigadier General do you?"

"Um…no. I mean, Barry liked to chop his victims up right? And he preferred to kill women, not men."

"Oh, right. Well then, I'd better get back to work. I'll see you soon, Sciezska. Thanks for everything."

Sciezska nodded and smiled brightly at Elise as she left with her paperwork. As soon as she was sure Elise was out of range, Sciezska quickly scrambled to gather all of her secret documents back behind the false magazine cover. Pressing them all together between the glossy photo of the Fuhrer King Bradley and his family, she began to rummage through her desk in search of a stapler.

"I know I put that thing in here somewhere," she mumbled aloud, tossing aside an old pencil sharpener and several romance novels.

"Ahhh…I see you're hard at work, Private," a low voice drawled across the empty room.

Sciezska quickly stood at attention, groaning inwardly as she watched the junk magazine containing Lieutenant Havoc's transcripts slide to the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Colonel Mustang, sir! I was just looking for my stapler."

The dark-haired officer waved a lazy salute in reply before striding into the room.

"Begging your pardon, sir. But anyone who needs archives or files pulled must talk to Sergeant Foker first."

Sciezska continued to stand at attention, twitching nervously as the very files Lieutenant Havoc had made very clear to not let anyone, especially Colonel Mustang, know that she had were currently scattered on the floor near her feet.

"We're well beyond that, you and I, right?"

If she didn't know any better, Sciezska would have sworn that the Colonel was trying to flirt with her. She blushed and looked down at her shoes, shuffling them just enough to push the papers underneath her desk.

"I'm sorry, but it's protocol, sir."

The Colonel sighed and ran his fingers through his dark hair.

"I really didn't want to have to do this, but I'm pulling rank on you, Private," Colonel Mustang said, soundly genuinely apologetic. Sciezska stared at him, not knowing what to say or do.

"Don't worry, you can stay in here the whole time and watch me if you'd like. Did you already bring most of the other paperwork over to Lieutenant Havoc's apartment?"

Sciezska nodded and continued to salute.

"At ease, Private, please. I just want to look at a few more reports in these archives."

He walked towards the wall containing personnel files for the last five years and pulled out one at random.

"Besides, I've been less than satisfied at the Second Lieutenant's reports," the Colonel mumbled as an afterthought.

Sciezska sighed and sat down in her desk chair, still painfully aware of the documents hidden underneath her desk. There were some times, despite her grandmother's medical bills, when she wondered if this job was really worth it.

A/N: Sciezska has no last name, correct? I couldn't find one, but didn't want to throw in a random name and be wrong. Also, is anyone aware of her military rank? My beta reader and I couldn't find it, so we decided on the lowest military rank possible, as she was a desk clerk in the library before she began to work for Hughes.

The Archives/Research Department is a very sketchy scene, military ranks-wise. We never know who is really in charge over there after Hughes dies. The way I see it, it's loosely held together by Sergeant Foker, with Sciezska continuing to organize and reproduce the lost library files under his discretion. In addition to this, Colonel Mustang, through Jean, is allowing her to investigate Hughes's death indirectly. (Remember this is mangaverse not the anime, so none of that horrid Archer.)

For those of you who don't remember Corporal Elise Davies, she's a secretary that works in Hughes's and Sciezska's department. She was also the last person to see Hughes alive (besides Lust and Envy, of course.)


	10. Protection

Wow, I'm up to 10 chapters and almost 20 reviews! Huzzah! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and enjoyed, or at least bothered to read, this story.

Fullmetal Alchemist is not owned by me. I did give Hughes's secretary a name (Elise Davies) and a personality. Maybe those can belong to me, no?

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Ten: Protection

"Do you know why I brought you here, Second Lieutenant?"

Jean shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. He itched to go back to the archives and continue his research. Unfortunately, Fuery had dragged him right into the Colonel's office and immediately thought of 'something urgent he had to take care of' ignoring Havoc's silent pleas to stay for the dressing down and lend him moral support.

"How is your research with that little library girl coming along?"

The Colonel shifted the conversation into a lighter tone, but Jean wasn't so easily lulled into security. He knew that the Colonel was pissed at the seemingly large lack of research.

"It's going well, sir."

Settling on a simple reply, Jean looked up at his superior officer boldly. He was almost angry that the Colonel had insulted Sciezska's intelligence, calling her the 'little library girl.' Jean quickly brushed the feeling off as nerves.

Colonel Mustang's face remained passive as he stood up, collecting a sheaf of papers from his desk.

"If it is going as well as you say, you won't mind me reading from a few of your reports, will you?"

Jean groaned inwardly. He had designed his reports to be purposely conversational, hoping that his tangents would distract the Colonel from the fact that he wasn't receiving any real information.

"To: Colonel Roy Mustang. Research is going well. I received the bulk of Hughes's paperwork from a pretty little package named Sciezska. She's kind of cute, too brainy for you, or maybe I'm just saying that because you steal all my girlfriends. Ha. Ha."

The Colonel paused and raised his eyebrow, flipping the page over so Jean could see it.

"Was it really necessary to type in the 'Ha. Ha.' part?"

"I'd forgotten I did that sir," Jean responded, snickering to himself.

Colonel Mustang finally smiled back, sighing as he threw the stack of reports back onto his desk.

"You're becoming more like Hughes every day, Havoc."

His eyes glazed over with nostalgia as he looked out at the sinking sun. Jean stared at him blankly, stunned by the compliment.

"There are sometimes when I wonder if going it alone would be easier."

"You're not the lonely type, sir," Jean smiled as he spoke.

"I guess not."

The Colonel stepped back behind his desk and sighed.

"Is there anything of importance you have discovered in your research?"

Jean frowned. He didn't want to lie outright to his commanding officer. Roy deserved better than that. Luckily, he and Sciezska hadn't gotten too far into the research yet, mainly because they were just catching up on each other's information. He thought for another moment, and after choosing an appropriate response, smiled back at the Colonel.

"Sciezska has a great rack."

Colonel Mustang pursed his lips in silence before bursting out into laughter. Jean quickly followed suit.

"It's no wonder you can't keep a girlfriend if you keep treating them like pieces of meat," the Colonel finally said after they had both collected themselves.

"Phew! That's harsh, man. Is that how you end up with all my girlfriends? By bashing my character?"

Jean gave his superior a hurt look and pulled out a cigarette, looking quickly around the room for a light. Roy Mustang chuckled, leaned forward and snapped his fingers, causing a small spark to leap up.

"It's called romance, Second Lieutenant. Send them some flowers. Tell them that they're pretty. Ask them to go out to nice places and then insist on paying for everything."

"Yeah, well maybe on your paycheck you can afford all that, sir, but not me," Jean countered, taking a leisurely drag.

"Maybe you should stop smoking. It is rather disgusting," the Colonel shrugged, continuing to laugh quietly.

"Dismissed, Second Lieutenant."

Colonel Mustang raised his hand in a casual salute. Jean responded by snapping his heels together and saluting smartly as he turned to leave.

"Don't let me catch you calling this junk a legitimate report again, Lieutenant! I'll write you up for it!"

Colonel Mustang brandished the report in the air, waving it at Jean's retreating back.

Whistling to himself as he walked down the hallway to the office he shared with the Colonel's other military officers, Jean resisted the urge to rush back to the archives. He assumed that Sciezska had possibly left for the day, anyway. They weren't meeting back up again until seven and she was easily able to do the majority of her work at home.

"I wonder why she even comes in to work," he said as he entered his office.

It was getting late. Jean shielded his eyes from the sharp rays of sunlight that were filtering in from the window next to his desk. They were already starting to give him a headache; however, short of putting on his sunglasses inside and looking like a complete idiot, he didn't have any other choice but to put up with it. He shuddered, thinking of how Breda would tear into him for closing the blinds again.

Jean turned to look at Breda out of the corner of his eye. Exhausted from yelling at Jean all morning about the window blinds and eating a very large lunch, the hefty officer was snoozing away on top of a mountain of paperwork.

"Sheesh, and the Colonel thinks that I'm unproductive. How the hell did you graduate in the top one percent of your class? I bet it was full of idiots."

Breda yawned, smacking his lips in reply before rolling his head over and beginning to snore. Jean glared at him for a moment and then sighed, relaxing back in his desk chair and recalling his own earlier conversation with the Colonel.

Smirking with perverse pleasure, Jean thought of the perfectly annoying way to wake up Breda.

"Payback is a bitch my friend," he sneered as he pulled out a cigarette from his uniform breast pocket, eyeing it lovingly. Raiding his desk drawer for a lighter, he quickly had the cigarette lit and began blowing its toxic fumes directly into Breda's face.

Jean's face lit up as Breda immediately began to cough.

"What the hell?"

"Good morning, sunshine," Jean grinned, exhaling a cloud of smoke into his friend's face and enjoying his discomfort.

"Consider it payback for this morning."

"What!? It's not my fault you're apparently a vampire," Breda retorted.

"It was a perfectly nice day out, of course the windows should be open."

"The sun was blinding me! I couldn't concentrate on my work."

"By work do you mean daydreaming about girls?"

"Yeah? And you got so much shit done actually dreaming when you were passed out on your desk!?"

Breda massaged his temples as he closed his eyes and yawned.

"Okay, okay, truce. I know we've both been working a bit too hard lately."

Jean nodded in reply and grasped Breda's hand to shake on it. The two men grinned amicably at each other before turning back to their desks.

"Oh, shit, it's already seven," Jean said, looking at his watch.

"What's wrong? You have a hot date or something?"

"Yeah…or something. I'll see ya Breda!"

The shorter man grunted and turned back to the mountain of papers that had accumulated on his desk during the past few days.

"I wish I could find someone to do these for me…," Breda mused aloud.

Jean rushed down the stairway, slowing as he approached the main lobby of Central Headquarters. Stopping in front of a lacquered, and very imposing, marble column, he took in his appearance, smoothed down his uniform and made sure his hair was a bit messy looking.

He took in a deep breath and walked casually down the stairs towards a slight figure waiting at the bottom.

"Hey, Sciezska," he said with a wave.

"I hope you haven't been waiting too long."

"N-no…I actually just got here," she said blushing.

"There were a few things in the archives I had to take care of before leaving."

"Oh? Anything interesting?"

Jean watched, confused, as the quiet girl blushed a more brilliant shade than she had previously.

"No, not really…although I did have a few visitors today. Elise Davies, do you remember her? She was under Brigadier General Hughes."

"Yeah, the nice but ditzy one," he replied with a nod. She nodded back and then began to sprint towards the exit. Jean quickly followed suit. As soon as they were a few feet away from the building she turned to face him.

"So are we really going to see…," she stopped and shuddered.

"C'mon, it'll be fine," Jean smiled.

"Besides, admit it. You're a bit curious aren't you?"

"A little," she admitted.

"I promise, everything will be fine," he said, placing an arm around her shoulders to reassure her. She smiled back up at him as they walked forward.

A/N: Ahhh…I always love the Havoc chapters. He's so much fun to write! Sciezska is my absolute favorite character, but she's a lot harder to write because her character is so much like my own personality. And no, they're not going out on a date…really. You'll see in the next chapter!

We haven't learned all too much about Heymans Breda, but I see him as the genius-but-lazy type, so that's how I wrote him.

The Colonel and Jean do address each other rather formally, despite the fact that they are somewhat close. It happens both in the manga and the anime, but once again, I think it's a formality that is crucial to their relationship.


	11. Double Date

Yay to new readers, and thank you to old readers for reading and reviewing this story! It really means a lot to me.

Still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, I would be a very rich woman.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Eleven: Double Date

Sciezska had already memorized the pattern of the wood grain on the door. She couldn't help it.

It was something that came so naturally to her that usually her precise and analytical mind skipped over this fact and moved on to the next step, what to do with the received information.

She wouldn't have noticed that she had already catalogued the pattern in her mind, except that she was attempting to focus on anything but what, or who, she reminded herself, was behind that door.

A soft hand touched her shoulder and squeezed lightly. She jumped anxiously, causing Lieutenant Havoc to jump back, awkwardly hiding his hand behind his back.

"Sorry!"

They spoke simultaneously and Sciezska blushed, deeper than she had before when he had casually put his arm around her as they left Central Headquarters.

"If you don't want to go in, it's really okay. I'll just pop in and drop some of this stuff off." Lieutenant Havoc held up a wrinkled plastic bag filled with a few decks of cards, poker chips, and beer nuts.

"I thought he couldn't, you know, eat," Sciezska said, trying to control the nervous pitch her voice was shaking at.

"Oh, those are for Falman. I'm sure he's really to kill himself by now, and these are his favorite food."

Sciezska raised her eyebrows, momentarily forgetting her fear.

"His favorite food?" she asked incredulously.

"Well you know, an older man of a certain age, lives alone, I'm sure they're simple enough to have around and eat."

Sciezska wrinkled her nose. Although she wasn't particularly skilled at cooking herself, like Gracia, she enjoyed a good meal every now and again.

Shrugging, the Second Lieutenant shot her a quick smile before his expression changed from amused to serious.

"Really, if you don't want to go in, I'll drop this stuff off and then we can, I dunno, go out to dinner or something?"

Sciezska resisted the urge to ask, 'Like a date?' There was no way that the same superior officer known for his terrible attempts at going after pretty and, Sciezska swallowed a laugh, well-endowed women was going to take any interest in her. Furthermore, she reminded herself, clenching her fists, she was not that girl, and she refused to be intimidated in front of him, allowing him to slip into the stereotypical role of protector. She could hold her own end of the research up, and she would prove it too him now. Walking up to the door, she boldly knocked, and then shrunk back as she heard an odd scrambling from behind it.

"Who is it? The pretty lady?" an unfamiliar voice, Sciezska assumed it was the infamous mass-murderer himself, spoke.

"It's Havoc, and a, um, friend," the Lieutenant called out.

"No, would you just shut up for once?"

This time Sciezska recognized the gruff voice of Warrant Officer Falman, muffled by the scraping and squeaking of several deadbolts being unlocked.

"Yeah, who would want to visit you anyway, you're kinda boring."

A snort erupted from behind her and Sciezska turned to see Lieutenant Havoc stifling a laugh. She leaned forward to hear the officer's reply, but quickly jumped back as the door began to open.

"Hurry up," Officer Falman whispered into the hallway, holding the door open enough to let the couple in.

Sciezska took in the sparse apartment in an instant before looking directly at the two people standing in front of her. It was dirty, not in the same way that her apartment was disorganized, but literally dirty, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was a side effect of Barry or just Officer Falman's way. The man himself was disheveled-looking in a plain black tee-shirt and what looked like pajama bottoms.

She walked forward fearlessly, her shoes rustling the old newspapers that were scattered about. A pang of sympathy ran through her body. She and the Lieutenant were probably the only visitors that Falman had received since he was forced to house Barry.

"Ooh, this one's new, hunh? You this one's girlfriend, missy? You could probably do a lot better."

Sciezska blushed and shook her head rapidly as the Lieutenant began choking on his own saliva and Falman burst out laughing.

"No, she's just my research partner," Jean finally managed to spit out.

"Awww…too bad. If she means nothing to you, can I chop her up?"

"No!"

Sciezska stared at the Lieutenant's quick denial, inwardly hating herself for feeling mildly happy. Of course he didn't want her to get chopped up by a mass-murderer that he had a part in hiding from their own military.

"Also, who'd want to deal with the body?" Sciezska whispered aloud, shuddering a bit.

"Shit! Will you please stop asking everyone that!" Warrant Officer Falman yelled.

"C'mon man, you know I don't mean it."

As the two began to argue, the recovered Lieutenant Havoc watched with some amusement as Sciezska took in Barry's appearance.

His armor was rustier and far more tarnished than Alphonse's, and smaller as well, with larger nuts holding the pieces together. Half of the suit of armor was covered in what appeared to be a fur pelt and it was cinched at the waist by an old leather belt that tied, despite the obvious and dulled buckle weighing down the ends. The helmet looked like an animal skull had been grafted into a metal plate and sealed at the back with stringy and matted hair.

"So you're really hollow inside?"

The curious and intelligent side of her mind finally pushed the fear aside for good and she walked forward, effectively ending Falman and Barry's argument by rapping on his breastplate with her hand.

"Sorry man, looks like you've already lost her to me!" Barry cackled at the Second Lieutenant. "Hoo-ooh-hoo! That tickles!"

"Don't be a dumbass, you can't feel anything," Officer Falman muttered.

"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions, Barry?" Sciezska asked, pulling out a small memo pad and ignoring the other two men in the room.

The armor gave a rusty sigh as he raised his shoulders in a shrug.

"Suit yourself, missy."

**A/N:** Who knows what Falman's favorite food is? If he really does have a canon favorite, I'll change it. I just thought it would be kind of funny.

On the timeline for all you sticklers: in chapter 34 Havoc goes to visit Falman again with a gift from the Colonel, who has already visited once before, leaving a chessboard. At this point, Falman has been forced to put up with Barry for 10 days. This happens before that, let's say day 4 or 5, putting the Colonel's visit at day 7 or 8, and Havoc's canon visit at day 10.


	12. Dinner

Thank you, as always, to havocmangawip. If you haven't read 'Jean Havoc:A Work in Progress,' yet, you should! Also thank you to Wash who reads everything I write, and has the courage to tell me what stinks.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter Twelve: Dinner

She was happy. Deliriously happy.

Her excitement was infectious and Jean smiled as he watched her thumb through pages of notes.

"This is amazing," she said. "I never dreamed I would get this much information. I'm shocked at how much he was willing to share."

Jean bit back the retort that a walking suit of armor didn't have much left to lose in life, but at the last moment the thought of Alphonse Elric stopped him. Barry's crimes had been atrocious in life, but he certainly hadn't deserved the punishment he'd been given.

He shook his head. At the very least, Sciezska would see it that way, and for whatever reason, he wanted her to remain in a good mood.

"…now all I have to do is corroborate his story with…,"he heard her continue.

Half-listening to what she was telling him, Jean continued to watch her, grinning the entire time.

"Do you want to go out to dinner with me?"

The words spilled out of his mouth before Jean realized what he had asked. He shrank back quickly as she stopped talking and looked up at him, confused.

"You know, as a celebration of...our, I mean your hard work, really."

She watched him stutter these words out, a perplexed expression on her face. Jean began to sweat, suddenly nervous.

"Okay," she said.

Jean nodded. He felt the corners of his mouth begin to tug upward while he reassured himself that it actually hadn't taken as long as it had seemed for Sciezska to respond to his question.

"We can go over the notes," he added, hoping he wasn't digging himself into some sort of unseen hole. Women could be so strange sometimes, and Jean inwardly acknowledged to himself something that he would never concede to Colonel Mustang. He had no idea what made them happy.

"I brought along some reports of my own," he said, fumbling through his uniform pockets for any sort of official-looking notes. Unfortunately, all they contained were a few empty packs of cigarettes and a crumpled up tissue.

Sciezska nodded. Her head was cocked to the side, and Jean colored as she continued to study him with the same intensity and interest that Jean assumed she studied her books, or, at one time, her grade-school science project.

"Aha! Now I remember," he blurted out.

Jean breathed a sigh of relief when he reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out the report he had been working on earlier. It was folded an excessive amount of times, and was now slightly flattened from sitting down. He winced, expecting the lecture that was sure to follow regarding the proper care of important documents.

Sciezska burst out laughing.

Still on his guard, women were always unpredictable, Jean weakly held out the folded page to her, and she took it from him, laughing wholeheartedly.

It suddenly occurred to Jean that Sciezska rarely laughed. She was always serious, studious, and frankly a bit jittery at times. A smile crept across his face, and Jean began to chuckle along with her, wondering why she laughed so little in every day life.

"If you only saw my apartment," she told him, her cheeks flushing with happiness.

"I'm simply glad I've found someone as messy as I am! The books are stacked several feet high in places. I had catalogued them at one point, but with all of the work I've had lately, I haven't had time to organize anything."

Immediately after saying this, a panicked look appeared on her face and she quickly added, "Not that I'm complaining or anything! I love working with, I mean, for you."

Jean nodded. Her nervousness somehow put him at ease. He'd been a bit out of line, asking her out to dinner like that, she was probably used to guys asking her out a lot more formally.

Luckily, she was a nervous person, and this put the two of them on equal footing. Jean warily thought of his past few dates, where he had put the women up on a pedestal only to have them end up with his superior officer.

"There's a place right down the road that's fantastic," he said, smiling down at her as he reached over and grabbed her notebooks to carry.

"Um…you really don't have to do that," she began. "I'm perfectly capable…"

"I don't doubt your capability, Sciezska," he sighed. "Just let me carry them. Just this once."

**A/N:** I don't remember if Jean knows Alphonse's condition this early in the manga; however, since he was Hughes's go-between, and, in this story, much more involved, we'll assume that he does.

Short chapter, I know. But the next one coming up is a lot longer.


	13. Silence

Hiromu Arakawa owns the characters. I only own the idea of the plot.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter 13: Silence

She had spent the last five minutes staring at her water glass, as a bead of condensation made it's way lazily down the side.

On any given day, Sciezska loved silence.

Her house, though messy, was a relaxing quiet place, with the exception of the occasional book avalanche. She was happiest at work when all she could hear was the rustle of the occasional page from her coworkers, or the small chuckle from Lieutenant Havoc as they continued their joint research.

Silence; however, was not ideal for a dinner setting.

She inwardly sighed. If only she wasn't so awkward. It wasn't exactly a date, but it felt like one, and since her mind had immediately jumped to that conclusion she found herself unable to speak.

Or was it a date?

Sciezska visibly jumped in her seat at the thought. Instantly, she began to catalogue the reasons.

Reason number one: he had stumbled a bit when he had asked her. She had pushed it to the back of her mind, telling herself that she had been imagining things, but there had been a definite pause.

Reason number two: he hadn't really planned on going over notes. True, he was generally messy, but he had been genuinely flustered trying to find some sort of notes from their project in his jacket. Usually they kept their notes organized in notebooks and binders.

Reason number three: he had carried her books. It was a stupid macho thing to do, but guys only did that for girls that they wanted to impress in some way, right?

As she continued to think, Sciezska realized that no one had ever carried her books before Lieutenant Havoc. The thought made her blush, although she fervently willed her body not to.

"Are you okay?"

His voice cut through her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little spacey, you know?" She grinned and rapped on the side of her head with her fist.

"I'm fine now. So what did you think of Barry's testimony?"

"Well…he said a lot that I think backs up what we gathered, I guess," he said, squinting his eyes as he tried to remember what exactly Barry had said.

"Exactly!" she said, her excitement overtaking her nerves. She tapped her right fist against her left palm.

"He was able to describe in detail the entire facility. I even drew a picture of the exact setup!" At this statement, Sciezska pulled out a smaller notebook from her breast pocket and flipped it open to a miniature-sized drawing.

"Here's another one, this of the transmutation circle. But he said that it didn't exactly work. They were only able to produce a very small amount of something that wasn't the Philosopher's Stone. I listed the symptoms and effects right here…are you listening?"

She looked up to see Lieutenant Havoc gaping at her vacantly.

"Uh…Lieutenant?"

Sciezska waved her hand in front of his face. His eyes continued to stare at her notebook.

"You can do that? Seriously?" he finally said.

She cocked her head to the side, confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"That! That's amazing! You know that right?" he pointed at the notebook.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" she said, exasperated. "This completely confirms a lot of what we've been studying!"

The Lieutenant shook his head and sighed.

"That's not what I was talking about," he muttered. He paused a moment and she watched him quizzically.

"This!"

With sudden speed, he grabbed the notebook from her hand and pointed directly at her drawing.

"It's amazing enough that you can recall books from memory, but you can draw from memory and description too! You know that not everyone can do this right?"

Sciezska blushed and shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno. I guess I thought that a lot of people could do it," she said, embarrassed.

Lieutenant Havoc sighed again and handed the notebook back to her.

"My, my, you two seem to be having quite a lively conversation."

A throaty and unknown voice to Sciezska entered the conversation. As she rose her head, she came face to face with the most gigantic pair of breasts that she had ever seen.

Unfortunately, the Lieutenant had also noticed them, and now had that dopey, but very male, look on his face.

"Well, are you two ready to order?" the dark-haired waitress asked, continuing to pitch her voice as if she was trying to entice them both into her bedroom.

"What happened to Christina?" Sciezska asked sweetly, smiling broadly at the woman as she inquired after the original waitress, a bubbly and young blonde woman, that had brought her and the Lieutenant's drinks.

The woman narrowed her eyes and glared openly at Sciezska before batting her eyelashes and addressing Lieutenant Havoc as if he had posed the question.

"It was the end of her shift and she had to leave. My name is Solaris, and I'll be serving you for the remainder of the evening."

Chills ran down Sciezska's spine as the smoky coating on the woman's voice faded away to reveal an icy and threatening note.

She told herself that this was beyond jealousy. Her and Lieutenant Havoc hadn't been on an actual date anyway. There was something about this woman that not only infuriated Sciezska, but made her very nervous. As she often did when she felt thrown into situations unprepared, she made a mental note of the woman's entire appearance, taking in every last detail before filing it away in the back of her mind.

"I-I'll have the salmon," she finally stuttered, hanging her head.

It was a fact that she felt inadequate next to this woman, but it also occurred to Sciezska that if the waitress was actually threatening her, it would be best to appear as weak as possible.

"And I'll have the steak," Lieutenant Havoc said brightly, his hand lingering over Solaris's as he handed her back the menu.

The waitress nodded and smiled broadly. It was a thin smile that stretched greedily across her face. She leaned down to collect Sciezska's menu, as Sciezska had yet to pass it back to her, shoving her ample chest in the Lieutenant's face before turning away from them with a flourish and swinging her hips slowly while walking away.

"She's very pretty," Sciezska addressed Lieutenant Havoc.

"What? Oh…yeah," he replied, tearing his gaze away from her retreating backside.

"Maybe you should ask her out. She's obviously into you," Sciezska said, gathering up her forgotten notebook and placing it back in her breast pocket.

"Yeah maybe…," he said.

A/N: Oooh, the plot thickens! Thank you to favilla, and, as always, havocmangawip for reading and reviewing! Yay!


	14. Plan of Attack

It's been over a year since I updated this! A year! I guess trying to get inside Havoc's brain is no easy task.

Hiromu Arakawa owns the characters, I'm just taking them out for a figurative spin. Thanks to Wash for his beta skills.

Cigarettes and Coffee Stains on Manuscripts

Chapter 14: Plan of Attack

It was an empty and messy apartment that Jean Havoc returned to that evening, after what had possibly been one of the least successful dates he had ever attempted. This thought was not to be taken lightly, as most of his attempted dates were unsuccessful. Then again, most of his attempted dates were with women decidedly less intelligent than his research partner, Sciezska, which inspired this lovely choice of words to issue from his mouth as he slammed his keys down onto a decrepit end table by the door.

"For fuck's sake, just what were you expecting!?'

Sighing, Jean leaned against the door, slowly sliding down to the worn out tatami mats on the floor. He should have known better than to ask Sciezska out on a date, although truth be told, based on her reaction, he wasn't positive that she had even realized that it had been a date.

Running his fingers through his hair, agitated, Jean sighed again. He hadn't known what had come over him earlier in the evening, only that the more Sciezska had talked excitedly, the more her face had lit up in a way that Jean could only now describe to himself as beautiful.

In fact, thinking back on their research together, Jean couldn't remember a time when being with a woman had been this fun. Whenever he had dated women, even if it had only been to distract the Colonel, it had seemed that he never lived up to their expectations, and inevitably, they would end up with someone else. Usually the Colonel. Being with Sciezska was different, Jean thought, most likely because he hadn't started their relationship by trying to get under her skirt.

Well, he thought a bit more, not unless you counted that time that he was drunk at Hughes funeral, but surely he deserved a figurative 'pass' in that situation, being distraught with grief and all.

Jean fumbled around in his pocket for a cigarette. Quickly lighting it, he took a deep, well-deserved drag, watching as the smoke lazily curled upwards towards his somewhat filthy ceiling. As he savored the taste of his admittedly disgusting habit, he began to mull over the day's events.

Just exactly what had he been thinking when he had suddenly asked Sciezska out to dinner? Romantic entanglements at work were actually something that Jean had successfully avoided, unless you counted the Colonel swooping in to steal his dates as 'romantic entanglements.' Jean had never wanted to get involved with anyone at work because work romances, more often than not, led to despair. Even more despair than what Jean was used to receiving from women on a daily basis. If he had been suddenly willing to throw caution to the wind like that, it meant…

"I actually like her," Jean thought aloud. "I really like her."

Taking another long drag, he supposed that this information should have sent him into a panic, but the only feeling he could muster was a sense of overwhelming calm. A slow smile began to spread across his face until he was laughing goofily, sitting on the floor alone in his apartment. If his coworkers could see him now, they would probably consider hauling him off to the loony bin.

"I like Sciezska," he reiterated to himself, finishing off his cigarette with a long, languid sigh.

Hauling his body off of the floor, Jean neatly put out the burnt end in a nearby ashtray, rubbing his fingers together to get rid of any ash. It was time to formulate a plan of attack. Sciezska was intelligent, ridiculously so, Jean thought with a smile, and she would need to be approached in a different way then his other failed romantic endeavors with women who had, for the most part, been Sciezska's complete opposites. Women, Jean mused, much like their waitress for the latter half of the evening, Solaris.

Jean pulled out a crumpled piece of paper where the busty waitress had written down her name in neat cursive handwriting, followed by her phone number. Normally, he would have been ecstatic to receive a number from a girl like that, but something about Solaris had rubbed him the wrong way. Sure she was pretty and had hit on him, but her voice had left him cold, and after the initial attraction to her obvious assets, Jean had begun to suspect that she was pushing herself on him for a reason.

As to what that reason could be, Jean could only guess, but based on their interview with Barry, and subsequent dinner conversation that Solaris had interrupted several times, he had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Hughes's unfinished research. Staring down at the piece of paper, Jean turned it over and over between his fingers. It couldn't hurt to get a bit closer to the woman could it? Then, when he found out more information, he could present it to Sciezska, and make her see how brilliant he actually was. She seemed like the type that would be attracted to that sort of thing.

Smiling to himself again, Jean imagined Sciezska's reaction. Her eyes would light up like they had earlier today, and her crazy memory would probably go into overdrive trying to put all of the information together. Maybe she would lean across his desk, allowing her uniform to stretch across her chest while dipping a bit lower, giving him a glimpse of her cleavage.

Jean began walking to the bathroom to grab a tissue, whistling to himself. His plan was foolproof.

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story through the years, especially havocmangawip who reminds me occasionally not to let life swallow me whole and update this cute little story.

Also thanks to all of the recent reviewers: anna707, varie, WildfireDreams, and StarliteBaby. Your comments and reviews are all appreciated!


End file.
